What will an A-Level in English Literature offer you as a school leaver?

Personal Poetry

I never really connected with one particular poem until earlier this year. I have always enjoyed reading and studying poetry but it never truly had affected me when reading it. I could never really relate to it personally until this particular moment in my life.

When reading this poem it was at a particularly challenging time and it was this poem that really helped me to get through this difficult period. A friend posted it on Facebook and I connected with it instantly. The poem was ‘Death is Nothing at All’ by Henry Scott Holland. My Granddad had recently passed away and when I read this poem I had him in mind. It was the first time that I had connected to a poem emotionally and personally and I will never forget the way in which it helped me to deal with his passing.

 Death is Nothing at All

Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you.
For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near.
Just around the corner.

All is well.

Henry Scott Holland

Since reading this poem I have found a new connection with all types of poetry. When teaching it I want my pupils to understand the story and emotions behind the poem. For me personally I never thought that I would enjoy teaching poetry as much as I do. I enjoy the ways in which a poem can mean so many different things to so many different people. I like to take in different interpretations and meanings and compare them to what I originally thought. When teaching poetry I am able to look at the ways in which people can connect to a poem and how it can relate to them personally. I just hope that one day my pupils will understand the impact that a poem can really have.

 

Poetry

The Creativity of Poetry

In the past few weeks I have began to teach poetry lessons. I have really enjoyed planning and implementing these lessons as I find that poetry allows you to explore teaching and learning in a variety of different creative ways. Poetry itself is a form of expression and it can be looked at and interpreted in a number of different ways.

 One of the most enjoyable things about teaching poetry is the ideas and aspects of a poem that pupils come up with; in particular the thoughts that you yourself might not have considered before. One pupil in particular in my year 11 class has a so many different interpretations when she looks at a poem. She clearly enjoys studying poetry and is extremely inventive when analysing any poem. It is pupils like her that really help lessons to progress and have an impact.

I find that teaching poetry also help me to develop my creative abilities. There are so many different ways in which a poem can be taught. I try to use a variety of visual, audio and kinaesthetic learning styles when teaching poetry to help the pupils understand the poem fully and to develop my own skills when teaching and encouraging pupils.

This week I have been involved in a team teaching poetry lesson. This has helped me to gain new ideas and techniques to use when teaching poetry as I have been able to see how others approach poetry and the way in which they teach it.

Poetry is a form of expression and creative ability and it is important that when teaching it that the lesson fits in with these aspects.

Evaluate a lesson that you have differentiated and explain the strategies and resources used

 

When looking at differentiation it is important to ensure that every pupil’s individual needs are being met. This week I taught my year 11 set 2 class a poem called The Farmer’s Bride. This class has 26 pupils with target grades ranging from A-C. They are a quite able class but there are a few pupils who need support to reach the desired learning outcomes. I have one pupil that is targeted an A and when reflecting upon this lesson I could have differentiated the lesson better in order to push this pupil.

The start of this lesson had pupils working in groups. Each group consisted of a range of pupils with different abilities. This helped to support my lower ability pupils as they were able to share ideas with the more able pupils and therefore develop their thoughts and ideas. The starter aimed to get pupils thinking about the key aspects of marriage. Each group created a mind map that consisted of any words that they associated with marriage. This tied in well with the poem as they were able to compare these ideas with the poem. The starter worked well to engage the pupils and the groups worked well as everyone was able to contribute and get involved.

The main part of the lesson was spent looking at the poem. I first introduced the class to the poem by explaining some context about the poem and then used an audio to help them to focus and understand how the poem would be read. I used a PowerPoint to display the poem as the audio played in order to help both visual and auditory learners. The audio was used to help support the lower ability pupils as it would help their understanding when analysing the poem. The class was then kept in the same groups they were in for the starter. This would help support all pupils as they analysed the poem. Each group moved around the class analysing a stanza at a time. I left the entire poem on the board so that the pupils could understand where each stanza was in relation to the rest of the poem. In order to help the lower ability pupils I discussed the techniques that they should be looking for within the poem before they began. In order to differentiate I placed an envelope on each table. Inside each envelope was a help sheet that was created for the lower ability pupils. I told the group to try to analyse the poem independently and to not look at the sheet for the first minute at each table. The poem highlighted certain areas that they should look at and had questions that asked them to think about the key aspects and themes of each stanza. This help sheet worked extremely well for my lower ability pupils.

My plenary was used to question the pupils on what they had understood about the poem. I wanted them to think about their ideas from the starter and to link these to the poem. My learning objectives for this lesson were to be able to explore the key themes in the poem and to be able to analyse and interpret the language, structure and tone of the poem. The responses in my plenary ensured that my objectives had been met as the pupils answered my questions well and were able to reference certain points of the poem to support their answers. My plenary also helped all ability pupils to develop their understanding as it allowed them to discuss their own ideas and to also listen to range of thoughts and opinions about the poem.

Overall the lesson worked well to support the differing abilities. The group work, help sheets and discussion task in particular all helped to support the lower ability pupils. In order to improve this lesson I would try to implement more ways to push my higher ability pupils. I could have set a question for each stanza that would have helped the more able pupils to push their ideas forward. I could have also asked them to compare what is happening in this poem with the context of this poem or with another poem that they have recently looked at. I have decided that a personal target of mine is to ensure that I am differentiating for the higher ability pupils as well as the lower ability pupils.

 

Write about something ‘WOW’ in a lesson and how that lesson relates to teaching styles

Write about something ‘WOW’ in a lesson and how that lesson relates to teaching styles

I observed a particular lesson that I felt was taught extremely well and focused on teaching pupils using auditory, visual and kinaesthetic learning styles. This particular lesson was with a year 9 set 5 class that consisted of 10 boys with targets ranging from C to E grades. By using the three types of learning styles Mrs C was able to help further the understanding of those pupils that might usually struggle.

This lesson began with a starter quiz that relied on the class to work alone on a visual basis and to then answer questions. This allowed the pupils to settle into the lesson and focus upon their work. For the main part of the lesson the class were reading Our Day Out and they had each been designated a particular character to read out loud. This enabled the class to learn visually (as they read the text) and auditory (as the listened to their classmates reading). By reading and listening to the text pupils will be able to have a better knowledge and understanding about what they are studying. This also helped the lower ability pupils that struggle with their reading as it will be easier for them to read out loud in order to take in what is happening.

Towards the end of the lesson Mrs C asked me and the teaching assistant to help create a debate with the class. We were asked to act as Mr Briggs and Mrs Kay from the play. We both presented arguments that summarised that characters personality to help them to fully understand each characters point of view. The pupils were then asked to stand on the side of which character that they thought would be a better teacher. This aspect of the lesson helped their kinaesthetic learning as they had to move around the class to decide which character they were going to choose. Mrs C then led the pupils to debate their reasons for choosing that particular character. The pupils were able to move between characters until they fully decided which character they wanted to choose. This task motivated and engaged all of the pupils and really got them thinking about the characters from the play. This activity allowed them to reinforce their knowledge and to expand any ideas that they already had. The debate also enabled them to gain other peoples perspectives on the play.

I personally found the last task to be engaging, enjoyable and informative. This was particularly useful for the students who struggle to follow visual and auditory learning styles. It required all pupils to understand the text and the characters. With this lesson being towards the end of the day it also engaged pupils that were becoming tired and unfocused. Personally my favourite types of lesson are those that actively engage the pupils and Mrs C was able to do this extremely well.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Planning and Timings

 

Observe a lesson and write a commentary on planning and timings.

Year 11 Set 2

Learning Objectives

- To explore the thoughts and feelings contained in the text.

- To demonstrate perceptive interpretation of people, place and context.
 

This lesson was focused upon Language and looked particularly at preparing the class for their exam. Miss B had clearly planned out what she wanted the class to work on to help improve their writing skills and to ensure that they are able to answer the exam question within a time limit. The class had previously read an article based upon an extract from An Afghan Journey and Miss B used this extract as the focus for this particular lesson.

Timings                         Lesson

5 – 10 minutes	Starter – the beginning of the lesson linked with the previous lesson, in which the class had chosen quotes from the text that they thought were important. Miss B then had a selection of these quotes written on a PowerPoint. She then asked the class why they thought each quote was important and how they would use them in an exam question. This showed clear planning on Miss B’s part as she had pre-selected certain quotes to use. She knew what she wanted the class to take from each quote and was able to guide them to where she wanted their focus to be.
5 – 10 minutes	Miss A then showed the class an example of a past exam answer on the text that they were looking at. Miss B had written this herself in order to display the amount of detail that the pupils should be including in their own answers. Miss B then used PowerPoint to display the mark scheme to further increase their understanding of what they need to be doing in their writing to achieve top marks. She then linked the mark scheme to the example answer and asked the class why they thought the example reached top marks.
20 minutes	Miss B then presented the class with a question based upon the text they had been looking at – ‘Explore some of Mansur’s thoughts and feelings in the text’. She then asked the class to write their own answer to the question. Miss B set a time limit of twenty minutes to complete the answer fully. The time limit was used to help the pupils to understand how long they should be spending on this type of question within their exam.
10 minutes	Miss B then asked pupils to swap their work for peer assessment. She put the mark scheme back upon the board so that the pupils could relate to this when marking. She asked them to highlight areas where the work had been written well and hit the target marks and to also highlight any ways in which they thought that they could improve. She asked them to give the work a mark and justify why they thought they deserved that particular mark. Peer assessment enabled pupils to further understand the mark scheme and to realise how they can improve their work in future. Homework – The class was set homework which was to answer a different question from the same section of the exam paper. This would enable Miss B to see if their written work improved based upon what they had learnt in the lesson.

Miss B’s lesson was clearly well planned and structured. She was able to use her timings well to ensure that she met the targets that she wanted to. The work on the quotations helped the class to look at how thoughts and feelings within the text we shown and they were then able to use these when answering the question. When answering the set question they were also required to look at the way in which people, place and context were important as they related to the thoughts and feelings portrayed within the text. Miss B’s example answer highlighted they ways in which their writing needed to reflect their interpretations of people, place and context. Timing was important throughout the lesson. In particular the timing set for the exam question was essential to help each individual pupil to understand the time that they will have to complete that particular type of question in an exam.

 

Lesson Observation

Observe a lesson and explain clearly how a specific element of the appropriate POS for that key stage is met.

I observed a year 9 set 3 lesson and looked at the way in which the lesson followed the Key Stage 3 programme of study. The lesson was focused upon the use of apostrophes and the use of assessment for learning to improve written work. Section 2.3 was used within the lesson to ensure that pupils progressed. 2.3.w states that pupils should be able to “signal sentence structure by the effective use of a full range of punctuation marks to clarify meaning”. Miss A had identified that apostrophes were a common problem for this particular class and therefore had planned this lesson to help them to understand how to use them properly. Miss A then had pupils re-read a piece of marked work in order to improve what they had already written. This focused on the programme of study 4.3e - that the curriculum should “provide opportunities for pupils to evaluate and respond constructively to their own and others’ writing”.

The lesson began with an overview of how apostrophes should be used. Miss A then used a starter quiz that asked the pupils to correctly place an apostrophe within a sentence. The main aspects of the lesson had a focus on the writing element of the programme of study but also linked in with the speaking and listening aspects of it. 4.1.c highlights that the curriculum should “provide opportunities for pupils to use speaking and listening to develop their reading and writing”. This relates to the way in which the starter quiz was presented as it relied on the pupils to be able to listen carefully in order to understand what Miss A wanted them to do with each sentence that they were writing. 

The lesson then moved on to a focus upon assessment for learning. The students were asked to look at a diary entry that they had previously written. This work had been marked by Miss A and needed correcting and adding to. The class was asked to correct spellings and punctuation and to add extra information to a question that Miss A had written on their work. This incorporated 2:3.q that pupils should be able to “use planning, drafting, editing, proofreading and self-evaluation to shape and craft their writing for maximum effect”. By encouraging the pupils to correct their own mistakes they were able to see where they had made a mistake and why. Miss A’s question had then prompted them to add extra detail and to expand and develop their writing further. Miss A worked her way around the class in order to help anyone that had any problems and while doing this she was able to praise the good work that they had done.

Miss A wanted the class to focus particularly on any spelling mistakes that they had made. This relates to 2.3.w that pupils should be able to “spell correctly, increasing their knowledge of regular patterns of spelling, word families, roots of words and derivations, including prefixes, suffixes and inflections”. In order to keep them focused upon their spelling Miss A set homework for the class to write down 5 words that they had misspelt and to learn how to spell them correctly. This would enable them to see what words they had repeatedly spelt wrong and to improve their spelling through practice and to help recognise regular spelling patterns. 

Miss A had a clear planned and focused lesson that was able to relate to a good amount of the writing requirements within the programme of study. She was also able to utilise other aspects of the POS, especially the use of speaking and listening.